T.L. Hawkins's Blog – April 2009 Archive (12)

Have you been Redeemed?



1 Peter 1:18-19 (KJV)



18) Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; 19) But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:



Webster's Dictionary (1864) defines REDEMPTION as:



The act of procuring the deliverance of persons or things from the possession of… Continue

I just HAD to share this...







April 23, 2009

I Feel Your Pain

WRITTEN BY: Mary Southerland



Today's Truth



2 Corinthians 1:3-4



"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is the Father who is full of mercy and all comfort. He comforts us every time we have trouble, so when others have trouble, we can comfort them with the same comfort God gives us."



Friend to… Continue

WHAT DO YOU REALLY THINK ABOUT YOURSELF?



We (man) have an advantage over other species. We have the ability to think AND reason. This is not always true in the Animal Kingdom. Unfortunately, we tend to think more negative thoughts than we do positive ones. What we think is usually how we feel and how we feel always manifests in our actions.



Proverbs 23:7 says...



"For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to… Continue

April 15, 2009

God's Transforming Love

BY: Mary Southerland



Today's Truth



"But anyone who does not love does not know God -- for God is love. God showed how much he loved us by sending his only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love. It is not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins." (1 John 4:8-10 NLT)



Friend to Friend



For… Continue

For weeks I have been on this site in the discussions and I have seen nothing short of division amongst the Body of Christ. There has been bickering, personal attacks, judgmental statements, accusations, slander and then some. I was in a discussion where I was seeking TRUTH on something that I was taught by an individual whom in my adult life I learned was a false Prophet. Rather than receiving what I was searching for amongst the Saints, all I saw was all of the… Continue

God told the prophet Jeremiah, “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure” (Jeremiah 17:9). Our ability to embed ourselves within the impenetrable shell of rationalization, projection and denial is nothing short of amazing.



Neil Plantinga writes:



We deny, suppress, or minimize what we know to be true. We assert, adorn, and elevate what we know to be false. We prettify ugly realities and sell ourselves the prettified versions. Thus a liar might… Continue

Sometimes, we find ourselves in situations and circumstances and are undecided on which way we should go next. Should we move on? Should we move forward? Should we stand where we are? Often, we choose to stay put when we KNOW we should be moving on! We tend to hold on to things when we know we should let go. We stop dead in our tracks when we should keep pressing on!





Sound familiar?







John 21:7



7) Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved… Continue

When was the last time you confessed your sins?



CONFESSION OF SINS





Confession of sins takes various forms:

(1) To God alone,

(2) To one's neighbor when he has been wronged (Luke 17:4, James 5:23),

(3) To one's friend or advisor as the confession of David to Nathan (2 Samuel 12:13), and,

(4) To the entire congregation where sin has created a public scandal to the church.

The Bible clearly teaches that every known sin, of whatever nature, must… Continue

This story was e-mailed to me by a dear friend. Enjoy



A Muslim man in Egypt killed his wife because she was reading the Bible

and then buried her with their infant baby and an 8-year old daughter.

The girls were buried alive! He then reported to the police that an

uncle killed the kids.



15 days later, another family member died. When they went to bury him,

they found the 2 little girls under the sand - ALIVE!



The country is outraged… Continue

Since you've decided to live according to the word of God and seek his face, his kingdom and his righteousness, are you making the most of your life? Think about it for a moment....





So many people today are living below their God-given potential. They’ve put their dreams on hold because of disappointments or setbacks. But God doesn’t want us to spend a single moment living in regret or condemnation. He doesn’t want us to settle for mediocrity. He wants us to make the most out… Continue

Lately there has been so much chaos and crisis in our lives, that instead of moving forward, we are simply trying to hold on to God.



The Bible urges us to do just that:



"But Christ is faithful as a son over God's house. And we are His house, if we hold on to our courage and the hope of which we boast" (Hebrews 3:6).



""We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first" (Hebrews 3:14).



"Therefore, since… Continue

Psalm 14



1The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.



2The LORD looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God.



3They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one.



4Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge? who eat up my people as they eat… Continue